I’ll admit — this is a bit of a silly question. And I felt a little silly when typing it. But given the state of the streaming industry (and to a lesser extent, those who write about it), I’m going to answer it point blank. Because there are those who write about Venu Sports as if it’s going to be yet another streaming service to which you’re going to have to subscribe if you want to watch the sports you want to watch.
Venu Sports is being written about as if it’s another Netflix, or Max, or Hulu, with exclusive content that you can’t get anywhere else.
And while it’s early days yet — as of this writing we don’t actually know when you’ll be able to sign up, though it will be in the immediate future — we already know the sort of events that are going to be on Venu Sports. And we know what Venu Sports costs.
So here’s the answer: No, Venu Sports isn’t going to be another one streaming service whose monthly fee you’ll need to add on to all the others, while you grumble about how you’re somehow paying more and working harder just to watch the things you want to watch. That’s not what this is.
As the executives themselves have said pretty plainly, Venu Sports is meant for someone who doesn’t have cable, or who doesn’t have a linear streaming service like YouTube TV or Hulu with Live TV. Toss Sling TV and Fubo into the mix, too. If you have any of those services, you’re already paying at least as much as Venu Sports’ monthly fee — and more likely almost double that, just because three of those four services are upward of $70 a month. And what’s more is that they all carry mostly the same sports-centric channels — the same channels you’re going to get with Venu Sports. So there’s almost no reason you’d ever want to have both. We’re talking channels like all the ESPNs. And TBS and TNT. And FS1 and FS2. And that’s just for starters.
If you already have cable or streaming, you almost certainly shouldn’t be paying for Venu Sports.
There is a little bit of a caveat to that, however. And this is the part where you’re going to have to do a little homework, and maybe some math. Because Venu Sports also will have events that are available on other standalone streaming services — namely Max and ESPN+. (Though Venu won’t have all of the ESPN+ listings.) If you have one or both of those services, you’ll want to figure that into your equation. Do you need to also pay for Venu if you have, say, the Disney Bundle, which includes ESPN+? Maybe not. Do you need to also pay for Venu if you also have Max? Perhaps you do not. And you almost certainly won’t need Venu if you already have both ESPN+ and Max. (And we haven’t even mentioned that ESPN will be available as a standalone service sometime in 2025.)
So on one hand, yes, Venu Sports is yet another streaming service that’s out there and (soon) available to take your hard-earned dollars every month. But unlike most every other streaming service, Venu Sports is going to be more of an option than a necessity.
Even if folks aren’t talking about it as if that’s the case.
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